the thing that i love about traveling is that i get to see different cultures, that feeling of amazement when i see how they are different from us, that awe when i see how Allah's creations, how different their sunrises and sunsets, how their timing are different, oh! the differences are what i love seeing and experiencing. =D

so in order to travel, i have to save up, see.

all of my eurotrips are all sponsored by myself. my parents only chip in by giving their euros/pounds/dollars yang extra from their old trips.

here are my saving tips! Bismillah..

1. open up an extra account! *editted*

i started saving since i was a little girl, approximately 10 years old when i really really started saving. my parents had an account open for me, and every year, duit raya yang dapat i akan put half of my collection in my ASB. for halal savings, you can keep your money is Public Mutual, Tabung haji, CIMB Islamic, etc etc. let your money stay there, jangan gatal nak kuarkan until and unless you really need it.

2. discipline!

when i studied in matrix and utp, alhamdulillah my parents didn't have to fork out much money. in matrix we were given a sum of money for every semester, and when in utp, i was a scholar so i received monthly allowance from petronas. thank you petronas and government =') the amount of money takdelah banyak. it's just enough for paying my bills, petrol, food and stuff and alhamdulillah, i manage to save up.

i break down my allowance/gaji into 3 parts: Responsibilities,Savings, Miscellaneous.

Responsibilities are my bills, rent, car maintenance, petrol, food, zakat, etc. these are where my money will go as soon as i receive my gaji/allowance.

Savingsare savings for travel and future family. it's best if you have a different account to transfer into when you receive your gaji or allowance. i have more than 1 bank account, fyi. ngah ngah!

Miscellaneous are entertainments, shoppings, unnecessary stuff that we just want and don't need. hehe!

now gaji/allowance being 100%, take 50% out forResponsibilities, take 30% out for Savings and the rest 20% for Miscellaneous. this is my percentage. you can change the percentage up to your affordibility =)

your Savings share must be the first to go. transfer it into a different account. ups to you. but this must be kept hidden from your gatal-spending-mood-swings. if you're putting it into a different account, don't make a debit card for it. just atm would be fine.

if your 50% share of responsibilities exceeded it's budget, padan muka. sape suruh tak jaga budget? ahahaha! kidding la. we all have that time kan. when that happens, take the extra money from the Miscellaneous share. whatever it is, DO NOT TOUCH YOUR SAVINGS!

if you spend less than 50% of your Responsibilities share, then good for you!! you can use that up to reward yourself for your tiring month, or take your family out for a treat or put it into savings, it's up to you. it's best though that you just don't spend it too much so that you have more stock for the next month.

and all this requires DISCIPLINE! you can do it bebehs!

3. plan your trip early!

if you're aiming to go travel overseas, plan where you want to go. once you know where, check out their currency and try google for some travel stories online. i do this everytime coz i wanna know what it's like there. mahal ke tak, hotel senang cari ke tak, what kind of transport is cheapest and most convenient, food camane etc etc. every country is different, so google it out. jangan malas please.

and this RM10k covers my flight tickets, hotels, transportation, domestic flights, tours, food, and shopping. itu pun ada extra about almost RM3k, which is an achievement for me okayh! i bought loads of stuff but still manage to have extras. and it's all because i planned early.

Surah Al-Hujurat, Ayat 13:O mankind, indeed We have created you from male and female and made you peoples and tribes that you may know one another. Indeed, the most noble of you in the sight of Allah is the most righteous of you. Indeed, Allah is Knowing and Acquainted.

it was after my first eurotrip with my best friends that i finally had pushed myself out of my comfort zone, and just don on the hijab. hehehee =)

the thoughts i have after seeing Allah's beauty.. ah itu different story la. hehe!

anyway, planning your trip early means you have to book your hotels early and try to ask for student price or seasonal discounts. some places, it's cheaper to take their domestic flights to cross countries, but some, it's cheaper to go by train. again, google about it. this part here, you need a credit card. heee..

it will be a great advantage if you have friends or relatives wherever you're heading. saves a lot of cost. so get in touch with your friends and family!!

*also, bring some instant food too like maggi, kurma, sambal, serunding, etc etc so that you can save money from food expenses. =)

4. get a good company!

choose your travel buddy wisely. you want to have a good time experiencing stuff, so better have your friends or family who has the same objectives as you do =)

5. jangan malas!!

this is your trip, so save up, discipline yourself, do your research, be careful and have fun!

so this is as brief as i can get, and i hope i didn't bore anyone to sleep.

Seriously I like this post very much. I've just finished my SPM like months ago and I really want to travel

Though, I also worked for the past 3 months and my gaji semuanya diguna for shopping. Gila kan? Well not ALL but almost 80% of it. And yet I still berangan nak travel sana sini. How on earth am I suppose to save on travel when I keep spending them kan? 0.o

Ok like honestly I spend most of my time online so yea, I have to admit that I shop online. You know la, bila online just tekan sana sini. Tak payah nak belek-belek the racks and all. So it's irresistible tau. Tambah lagi with most banks boleh pay things online. Lagi la mendorong shopping online.

Then sometimes when I really like an outfit from an online shop, mula la teringat-ingat and everytime online sure bukak balik the item and tengok balik. I shall keep doing that sampai la it says "out of stock" or whatever. I should really stop this.

Honestly I tak tau how on earth am I going to survive time masuk college nanti. Sure I'll get broke by end of the week. HAHAHAHA!

Though from what I've read on this post, insyaAllah I'll try to adapt time study. Ewaaaaaah.

Well at first I only watched your youtube videos. Then you had your blog link with 'em so decided to click it. Honestly I admire you. Your fashion sense is much towards modesty and your sense of humor through writing and speaking pun kelakar gila babs. Above all you're very pretty.

I really like the way you dress. Tak ada la serabut gila just to cover your aurats. The way you dress looks comfortable la and I know that you're a new hijabi kan? Well me too actually. It has been a week :D

Woaaah I think I writer too much in here. Melampaus gilos betuls. HAHAHA! Oh oh oh oh, do check my blog too. Well my blog tak ada la sehebat mana. Ada 18 followers je tau. Sadis gila. But I mostly wrote about myself la. Well not mostly tapi on all of my post. HAHAHA! In short my blog is sort of like yours but minus the glams and famous. Ngehehehehe

so so soooo sorry!! i forgot to mention that i was a kid when i had ASB (dulu tak banyak islamic banking skim). but now, in selangor dah diconfirmkan that it's haram due to the interest rate yang bercanggah. so you can place your wealth in islamic banking yang dah banyak dah sekarang =)sorry sangat if i misled youuu!!!

thanks for the tips maria...sekarang ni yang mampu pegi indonesia je..pasal murah kan..but what you said really inspires me to go to other places...best pulak..alih2 baru nak bukak buku and kira boleh tak I save up like u...hope that one day I will..thanks for the tips yerk....

Nice sharing.Something I use to do in the past when planning for travel.But not anymore nowadays, when I travel, only need to pay flight and accomodation. Sometimes accommodation also free.If want to know how you can enjoy the same benefit, subscribe to my blog list.

Assalamualaikum kak Maria, seronok baca blog kak maria, especially post yg ni. i was just randomly go to older post and feel like reading this. In fact, it helps me a lot. I am having trouble in savings since i dont know how much exactly should i save. :')

this is a true motivation, kak maria! i have always wondered the most effective way of saving money, but nothing seems to go right. your idea of opening an extra bank account is really brilliant. i'm so glad i came across this blogpost, because i can see how truly helpful it will be. i'm in my late teens (20 next year!), and i just hope i'm not too late to save up for the future. thank you for your wonderful tips!

the author

in case you're wondering, no, there's nothing peliks about this blog. maybe a bit about the blogger, but that's for you to decide. and no, you don't have to tell me what you've decided. unless, you've decided to stay on and read on and on and on. then, well, thanks! oh, the name's Maria. Malaysian, young (at heart) and awesome by nature. bahahaa!